Color Barrier
by ariel's atlantica
Summary: Drake & Josh get into their worst trouble yet – they get their hands on fake IDs and get into a night club. There, Drake meets a very hot girl and the two hit it off. Only this time, she's African American.
1. Color Barrier

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** _Hello, hello, hello. I haven't tried my hand at "Drake & Josh" yet, though it seems quite appealing. Drake is like, so hot, it's insane. I read a slash "Drake & Josh" fic; it was cool, haha. Anyway, yes, I hope you all enjoy "Color Barrier." I know it's not that long, but following chapters will be. Read and Review for me!_

**DISCLAIMER:** _Do I even have to say it? I don't know Drake Bell or Josh Peck, just writin' about them._

**SUMMARY:** _Drake and Josh get into their worst trouble yet – they get their hands on fake Ids and get into the local area night club. While there, Drake meets the hottest girl he's seen yet, and the two hit it off. Only this time, she's African American. What will Drake's friends say? What about his parents?_

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It was a beautiful sunny day at Belleview High School in San Diego, California as Drake Parker and his stepbrother Josh Nichols entered through the front doors and proceeded to their lockers. Drake's head was, as usual, turning at the sight of every female that walked past him while Josh's mind was going back over the Chemistry material he'd studied the previous night for his test that day.

"I just don't get you, Drake."

"Why not?"

"You check out girls every single day."

"Why shouldn't I? They're all cute. Ooh, especially her," Drake said as a girl with an exceptionally short skirt caught his eye.

"Drake, I love you! Bye!" A giddy girl in a pink shirt and white scarf squealed, and as quickly as she'd appeared, she was gone.

"Must be good to be you," Josh said, a hint of jealousy and 'he's hopeless' in his voice.

"Yeah." And with that, the pair was off to class and to finish another long and boring day of high school.

Drake, of course, slept through almost every class. Josh was busy raising his hands to answer questions while Drake raised his head up rapidly every time a teacher would ask him to pay attention. Passing by lockers in between classes, Drake was busy eyeing the ladies again, very predictably.

Later on that afternoon when they got back home, Drake had yet another devious scheme cooked up in his guitar-playing mind.

"Josh," he said, throwing his backpack on the chair by the stereo as usual.

"What?"

"Guess what Scott's brother is gonna do for us?"

"Do I _really_ want to know?"

"Yes, you do. Scott's brother is gonna get us into The Viper Room."

"And that is…?"

"A club Josh, a club!"

"A what? You've had some crazy ideas before Drake, but this one just takes the cake."

"How so?"

"A club, Drake? We're nowhere near old enough. How are we supposed to get in?"

"Fake IDs, duh," walking over to his raised bed, pulling his guitar into his lap and striking a few notes.

"No way, Drake. I will not go along with another one of your crazy ideas."

"It's not crazy; it's practically foolproof! Look, we get the IDs, just flash them at the security people, and we're in. It'll be awesome."

"Not gonna happen," Josh said, flipping open his Math book.

"Oh come on Josh. We're practically seventeen now."

"I am not going to a night club! Do you know how much trouble we could get into?"

"We won't get in trouble! As long as you keep your big mouth shut, nobody will even know we're there."

"I said no, and that's final."

But when Josh tried to get out of the rolling chair at their computer desk, he found that Megan had glued his butt to the chair yet again.

That Friday night, Drake and Josh stood outside of The Viper Room with Scott and his brother Trevor. The music blared loudly outside the building, and the lights could be seen from the door. At the threshold of their maturity stood a man in a yellow jacket with an earpiece in his ear, and another one who sat on a stool and checked the ages on the ID cards that were held out to him.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Josh said with a disgusted tone in his voice.

"Come on Josh, lighten up a little," Drake said as the four of them approached the door and he handed the Bouncer his (fake) ID card. By a stroke of luck, he didn't notice any of the phony cards.

"Wow Scott, you actually did something _right_ for a change!"

"I cannot believe I'm doing this," Josh repeated as they stepped inside, now a scared and regretful look on his face to go along with the disgusted tone in his voice.

"Didn't I tell you to lighten up? Come on, relax! The hard part's over. Now we just gotta find some girls to dance with," Drake said contentedly, depositing his jacket and rubbing his palms together.

Not quite five minutes later, a shorter black girl with long dark brown hair and light brown eyes moved toward Drake and Josh (Scott and his brother were already dancing). She hesitated for a moment behind them while they hadn't spotted her before she tapped Drake lightly on the shoulder. He turned his head and gave her a sweet and innocent smile, which she returned.

"Wanna dance?" she asked.

"Sure," Drake said, allowing her to take his hand and lead him to the dance floor.

Josh sat there alone in awe and misery, but only for a short while. A pretty girl with curly, dirty blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes asked Josh to dance, and led him to the dance floor when he'd consented.

"This is so crazy, Drake."

Drake and the girl who'd asked him to dance were still going strong forty-five minutes later. They'd sat down to talk and he found out her name was Laura. He also found out that she'd come with the girl who was dancing with Josh and her name was Stephanie. After a short water break and discussion, the two got back on the dance floor. It was almost 2:00AM before Josh grabbed Drake and dragged him out of The Viper Room…but not before he and Laura had exchanged cell phone numbers. To Drake, it looked like the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

"Dude, my band could play in there sometime," Drake said as they left.

"I can't believe I did that," Josh repeated.

"Josh, could you stop saying that? It's over now."

"Whatever."


	2. Girlfriend Woes

_**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **Hello all my readers & I'm sorry it took me so long to upload another chapter to this one. I haven't spent that much time writing fiction since I started at Michigan State last year. Anyway, yeah, I hope you guys enjoy my "Drake & Josh" fic!_

_**DISCLAIMER:** I don't know Drake Bell or Josh Peck, nor do I have any affiliation with the "Drake & Josh" TV show._

_**SUMMARY:** Drake is flaunting his new girlfriend (yep, he and Laura are now boyfriend and girlfriend) all over the place. Josh has his own girlfriend, so it's not jealousy that's affecting him, it's concern. Laura is twenty and she's into a lot more (risky behavior) things than Drake is. Of course, Drake hasn't told Laura how old he is. Will Laura drag Drake into a hole that he can't dig himself out of?

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_

**Chapter Two – Girlfriend Woes**

The sun was out once again on a boring school day afternoon at Belleview High. The one good thing about this day was that it was Friday, and everybody was loading up at their lockers and heading home, getting ready for the weekend. Josh Nichols had just kissed his new girlfriend Mindy goodbye-for-the-day at his locker when his step brother Drake Parker approached, talking on his cell phone to his brand new girlfriend.

"All right, I'll see you then. Bye babe," Drake said with a triumphant look on his face.

"Talking to your new girlfriend?"

"Yep," Drake sighed an elated sigh and put a hand on Josh's shoulder, "I'm telling ya Josh, it doesn't get any better than Laura."

"Uh huh..."

"Would you stop that? You act like I've never had a girlfriend before."

"I don't think you've ever had a 20-year-old black girl as a girlfriend."

"Will you relax? I don't need you lecturing me. Come on, we gotta go if we're getting a ride from Scott's brother."

Josh followed Drake out of the side doors of the school, he couldn't help thinking his brother had no idea what he was getting himself into. It wasn't Laura's race that troubled Josh, it was her age. There was a four-year age difference between Drake and his new girlfriend, and four years made a huge difference when it was sixteen and twenty. No matter how hard he tried, Josh couldn't fathom what was going through Drake's head. If anyone else knew, like Megan or their mom or dad, they'd go absolutely ballistic.

Drake has always been the daredevil brother, always willing to try new things, and was in love with getting into trouble. But dating a twenty-year-old black girl was definitely something Josh could consider out of Drake's league. He had a nasty habit of fooling his girlfriends, unfortunately with success. He fooled a girl named Michelle into thinking he was a genius and read lots of books, and he fooled another girl into thinking he was a college kid. Obviously with Laura, since he hadn't told her his real age, he felt he could do the same thing to get a hot girl. It was like Drake to manipulate girls (which never turned out good), but Josh felt that this was going a bit too far.

That evening, Josh was finishing his English essay that was due the following week while Drake was shoveling Cheetos into his face and playing his guitar at the loudest volume possible. Josh could normally tune out sounds around him to concentrate on his schoolwork, but Drake was annoying him more than he usually did lately and he'd finally pushed Josh's last button.

"Drake! Is it possible to tune that down just a little? I'm trying to write a paper."

"What was that that, Josh? I didn't quite hear you," Drake responded, smirking.

"Drake, I'm serious! I, unlike some people I know, care about the value of an education."

"Whatever." He gave in and turned his amplifier off.

"Where are you going?" Josh asked as Drake hopped off of his bed and put on his watch and a collared shirt.

"Out with Laura. We're going back to The Viper Room."

"You're seriously going back to that place?"

"Yes, I'm seriously going back to that place. I've still got the fake."

"You're gonna get caught eventually, you know that right? By the Bouncers _and_ your girlfriend."

"I am not. And why are you always so negative? I'm just going to have some fun on a Friday night with my girlfriend."

"All right, but don't call me if you get in trouble."

"I won't."

Drake grabbed his wallet from his brown jacket pocket and headed out of their bedroom, closing the door behind him. Drake had a nasty gut feeling that he shouldn't be doing what he was about to do, but of course teenage boys of his age rarely obey these gut feelings, and yelling to his parents, "I'll be back around midnight!" he left the house and met his girlfriend around the corner in her lime green Volkswagen Beetle.

"Wow Drake, I didn't think you'd show."

"Are you kidding? I'm always ready to party," and he kissed her.

"Got everything?"

"Sure do."

"All right, let's go. We're not going straight to the club, though. We're gonna take a little detour."

"To where?" He sounded mildly inquisitive, but nervous and unsure at the same time.

"My friend Emily's house. She's got the alcohol over there, and I'm not clubbing sober tonight. It's too early now anyway."

"Too early?"

"Yeah, it's only 9:00."

"Uh huh..."

"What's wrong, never got drunk before?"

"Well, no..." finally Drake was taking an opportunity not to lie.

"Don't worry about it; Em's good at getting new-comers wasted."

Drake was finally beginning to understand that gut feeling. Unfortunately for him, it was a little too late to do anything about it. The uneasiness was apparent on his face as Laura maneuvered her car around the turns and down the streets and freeways that would take the new couple to her friend Emily's house. Although it was 60 degrees, Drake shivered slightly in the air-conditioned Beetle. He knew he was getting deeper and deeper as the night went on, and soon he'd be in over his head. This is a mistake I'll just have to learn from, Drake thought as Laura exited the freeway and took a turn down a brightly lit street.

Emily's house was a nice size, only a little larger than Drake's own house. The front lawn was illuminated slightly by a white light coming out of the front door, which was open. The lawn itself looked like it had been cut recently, but red and blue paper cups were scattered throughout it, and there was an enormous keg in the middle where people were filling and refilling their drinks.

"Awesome, she's got the keg." Drake gulped a little, but Laura only smiled and walked toward the open front door, pouring herself a beer on the way there. "Why aren't you drinking free beer?" she asked Drake behind her.

"Uh...well...I...don't much like the taste of beer," Drake lied.

"What? Drake, beer is like a natural taste for guys who drink, don't pull that one on me. If you're gonna get trashed for the first time, you should drink beer."

"All right." The apprehension was crystal clear in Drake's voice, but Laura dismissed it and greeted some of her other friends.

Drake headed back to the barrel-like keg that held the beer and located a stack of clean cups. He acted slowly, wondering whether he was really about to do this. Of course he would work hard to make sure no one (especially no one related to him, by blood or law) found out about what he was doing, but he still felt the apprehension flood inside of him like a hormone that his body wasn't getting rid of. He watched the bronze liquid fill the red cup he'd chosen and took a good hard look at his life and how many things he was able to get away with. This was a major step up and it might've been out of his league, but he decided to ascend the step anyway, and took a long swig of the beer in his cup.


	3. Risky Behavior

_**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **I hope you all are enjoying my little ficcie. I decided to rate it T because of the 'adult themes' expressed...I hope it's an okay rating. None of you people younger than 21 should be indulging in this kind of behavior! This is just to open your eyes. Drake will learn a lesson from his mistakes. Anyway, yeah, enjoy! R&R too._

_**DISCLAIMER:** I don't know Drake Bell or Josh Peck, nor do I have any affiliation with the "Drake & Josh" TV show. _

_**SUMMARY:** Drake is still hanging out with his girlfriend at her friend's house, and he's getting into even more risky behavior. He ends up getting back in his house successfully, but well after midnight...and his parents are waiting there on the couch. What do Walter and Audrey have to say, and when will Drake decide it's time to draw the line?_

_

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_

**Chapter Three – Risky Behavior**

It was 10:30pm on a Friday night and Drake Parker was still at a party with his 20-year-old girlfriend Laura. He'd finished five cups of beer and was heading back to the keg for another after more encouragement from his new significant other. The beer wasn't bad and Drake's angst was almost gone because of the amount of beer that was in his system. He made a quick trip to the bathroom (his fifth in a row) before rejoining his girlfriend at the front of the house they'd made a temporary stop at.

Drake continued following his girlfriend around the house, shaking hands with some of her friends and watching others vomiting in scattered garbage cans full of blue and red cups. He looked at his own beer quizzically for a moment then took another swig, hoping and praying that this evil liquid wouldn't do that to him. He wasn't at the nauseated level of intoxication yet, but he could definitely tell he was getting drunk.

"Babe, maybe you should slow down."

"I'm fine, I'm fine."

"So I see. In the case, here." She pulled out a red and white rectangular box with the word 'Marlboro' stamped across the front.

"You're joking, right?" Drake asked as she handed him a white tube from the pack.

"Serious as a heart attack, Drake. Wow, a virgin smoker too, huh?"

"Yeah..."

"Yeah, well, we'll fix that. Come on, take it."

"Give me that," Drake said and took it from her.

Drake's heart was beating quite fast, but he ignored it. Laura lit the cigarette Drake had placed in his mouth and he inhaled deeply...and coughed. Hard. It was at this moment that a couple of sticks of dynamite went off inside Drake's head. He was finally beginning to see the mistakes he was making by getting involved with a girl as old as Laura. Laura had lit her own cigarette and was smoking it without difficulty. He looked at her, and then looked at himself. It wasn't easy to admit he'd failed with a female, but he definitely knew this time that his bluff would sooner or later be called, and it would be much easier on Laura to hear the truth out of Drake's own mouth.

As soon as his breathing returned to normal, he got rid of the beer cup he was holding and located Laura. She was still smoking, but she put the cigarette out when she spotted him. She smiled a smile full of nicotine and Drake couldn't help but be turned off by this – and he was rarely turned off by a girl as beautiful as Laura was. He observed his surroundings fleetingly and knew that what he was going to do at the end of the night was the right thing. Unfortunately, he still had to endure a night at The Viper Room, and not too long after Laura grabbed his arm and led him to an enormous blue Escalade that would take them there.

The night was relatively warm and the moon and stars were faintly visible in the Californian night sky. The Escalade pulled in front of the familiar bright lights and ear-splittingly loud music and Drake almost didn't move his feet to step out. He wouldn't have either, had Laura not had a circulation-cutting grip on his left wrist. Reluctantly he let himself be steered inside the club, hoping somehow that the night would go by fast. Hoping and praying doesn't help you much in circumstances like Drake's, however; he would simply have to dig himself out of the hole he was in.

He danced with Laura for a while, and she lit another cigarette. Just the idea that he got himself riveted in a crowd like this all of a sudden seemed quite ludicrous...even for a bad boy rock band lead-singer like himself. Drake might have gotten himself into some sticky situations, like the rock show Scottie's brother got them fake tickets for. But never had Drake gone as far as to actually smoke (however short and minute the smoking was) a cigarette. Even with the beer he drank, he knew it was erroneous to be where he was.

Not a moment too soon, the DJ in the DJ box played a slow song, which signaled the closing of The Viper Room and the end of the night. He felt as if he'd been waiting for that moment his entire life when he stopped dancing and headed toward the exit with Laura and a bottle of ice cold water (which felt good going down his esophagus). He caught Laura by the arm outside of the building and held her back for a quick word.

"Laura, we have to talk." The fatal five words of any relationship had hit Laura's ears.

"About what?"

"I...sort of have a confession to make."

"Go on."

"Well...I'm not exactly...who you think I am."

"And who do I think you are?"

"Some drinking, partying, smoking, 20-year-old guy."

"Who said that's who I thought you were?"

"Well, nobody, but...look, the point is, I have to confess. I'm just in high school, and I'm only sixteen; I've fooled girls into thinking I was older before, so I just...thought I could get away with it again."

"I knew you weren't twenty Drake. I must admit, I did think you were eighteen, but it looks like I was two years off."

"Then you'll understand when I say that I think we should go our separate ways. I'm really sorry, but,"

"Don't worry about it, Drake. I don't want you to get mixed up in stuff you're not ready for."

"Oh, good, well...I'm glad you're not mad."

"Come on, I'll take you home."

"Could you drop me off around the corner from my house, like where you picked me up?"

"Sure," Laura chuckled.

The ride back to Drake's house was silent. Drake felt bad for dismissing Laura like he had, but better about the choice he was making. His troubles, however, we not over just yet; it was well past midnight, and he was supposed to be in by then, as any normal sixteen-year-old would have to be. Drake pondered for a while how he was going to make it through the house and into his bed undetected. Josh probably wouldn't wake up, and brushing his teeth was out of the question; it'd wake up the whole house. Laura stopped her Beetle a block down from Drake's house so the car wouldn't be suspected of stopping at Drake's house, then he said one last (or so he thought) good-bye to Laura and walked down to his door and walked in.

Five minutes after he'd set foot inside the house, the living room and kitchen lights flipped on and Walter and Audrey Nichols were staring Drake dead in the eye, Josh and Megan on the living room couch hoping to witness the scolding Drake was about to receive. Drake simply looked both his mother and step-father in the eye, knowing that now there wasn't much of a way out of his situation. Josh had the same look on his face as his parents, and Megan was smirking at him.

"Mom, dad...I can explain."

"Please do that," Audrey spoke up, looking at him seriously.

"Well, see, here's the thing...I've been dating this...this girl..."

"Go on," Walter said.

"Her name is Laura and...she's twenty."

"Twenty years old?" Audrey said after a slight hesitation to register in her brain what her son had just said.

"Yeah, well...she wasn't that bad...until tonight. We went to her friend's house,"

"And how old is her friend?"

"I'm not sure, I didn't know her."

"I don't think I want to hear anymore of this part of the story. Just tell us where you've been all night." Megan's evil smile was getting wider.

"I was at the...The Viper Room. It's a club, eighteen and over."

"Might I ask how you got in?"

"Well...I sort of...had a fake ID." A short pause followed this to allow his parents to react without words.

"I'll admit it Drake, you've done some really idiotic things in your short history. But this, tonight has got to be the most idiotic."

"Could you please just tell me how long I'm grounded for so we can get this over with?"

"I know for a _fact_ you are not talking back to me right now, Drake Parker," Audrey said fiercely.

"Sorry."

"Don't talk anymore. I really don't know what's gotten into you Drake, and I don't want to hear any more about what happened tonight. I want you to know how worried we were and how much trouble you're in. Unfortunately, we can't think of a harsher way to punish you than grounding and removing privileges. TV, video games, and the computer are definitely out of the question, and we'll take the fake ID. No more cell phone either," Audrey said and she ripped the cell phone from his pocket.

"The cell phone mom?"

"Yes, the cell phone, and I thought I told you not to talk anymore. You're grounded until we get over what you've done, and until you've had time to think about it."

"You gave us a scare tonight Drake, and I don't know how long it'll take for you to get our trust back."

"Yes sir."

"Now go to bed. You too Josh and Megan, and we'll talk more in the morning. Your father and I will figure out by then exactly how long you'll be grounded for."

Drake sighed another sigh, but it wasn't a happy and euphoric sigh as it was before, but a heavy-hearted and disappointed-in-himself sigh. He should've known he couldn't be the daredevil brother for long without consequences. He got a pair of pajamas out of his drawer when he got to his room and changed into them, happy to be home but still feeling bad about what he did that night (a first for Drake), most of which his parent's didn't know about.

He quickly brushed his teeth and climbed into his bed, not falling asleep right away. He did more thinking in one night than he had in his first three years of high school. Things didn't usually occupy his mind like this night and his recent ex-girlfriend did. He really screwed up this time, and it would take more time than he was willing to spend to fix. He woke up groggy and with a bad headache in the morning (well, 12:00 in the afternoon). He went to the bathroom and freshened up, preparing for the extra reprimand he was sure to get the moment he showed his face in the kitchen. Not to mention the sermon he was no doubt going to get from Josh and the taunting he'd have to endure from Megan. All in all, Drake was left with a strong sense of regret as his feet made contact with wood tile from the floor and his parents were waiting for him in the kitchen by a box of cereal.


End file.
